....wrote to the local politician with regards to raising the profile of human slavery. She has also written to David Beckham (child slavery is one of the issues close to his heart) to ask how she, as a fifteen year old, can raise awareness in our community. Charlotte will also be writing to the editorial…
Category: Independent Learning
Angelicscalliwags Catch Up and Plans for Next Year: Lillie
I am so excited about Lillie's school work this year! I think she is going to have an absolute ball, and I am completely jealous that I didn't have the same opportunity when I was her age 🙂 With Lillie we are keeping it very vocational. For years now she has wanted to start up…
Interest-Led Learning for Teenagers: An Interview with Lillie
Describe how your school has changed over the past few years? I've been given more control over what I do. I've been allowed to choose which GCSEs I want to do and I am not being forced to any GCSEs that I don't enjoy. I am pleased I am allowed to do this because I…
Exploring Africa Through Jewellery by L13
Hello, I am L13. I am Claire's quieter and somewhat more creative twin. Over the past year I have become very interested in home-made jewellery, so much so that Mummy decided to incorporate jewellery making into my school. Together we came up with a project based on African jewellery. I have always LOVED African jewellery,…
Incorporating Unschooling into a Project Based School
So, with the help of the children, I have chosen all our curriculum and am continuing to pursue project based learning whenever I can. Yet everything which pulls me towards unschooling is still pulling, whilst everything in me which rejects unschooling is still rejecting it. What's a girl to do? A while ago I read…
Project Based Homeschooling: Mona Lisa Picture Study
Great Resources to Have on Hand Becoming Leonardo L decided to journal as she did her research and called her journal 'Becoming Leonardo'. Her goal was to really to try to get into his head and try to understand what it was that made him tick. This was her own idea and her own journal,…
Project Based Homeschooling: Gutenberg’s Printing Press
Great Resources to have on hand Making a Wooden Model of the Printing Press We had already done a bit of work on the printing press and Gary and T had put together the model of Da Vinci's design, which was very similar to Gutenberg's: Making your own rag paper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XoTGFC-0NAÈ T ripped up…
Project Based Learning: Individual Leonardo Da Vinci Projects
This term we are focusing on Leonardo Da Vinci. We spent most of last week looking through the resources and getting a feel for what each child might be drawn towards. After much to-ing and fro-ing topics have finally been agreed upon and the children have enthusiastically thrown themselves into their work. We have discussed…
Project Based Learning – Making a Bug Observatory
You remember the Bug Adventure box I made up for the little ones to help with their chosen bug project? There was a reason I put everything in a large plastic box, rather than the customary wooden box I had used for the past few years. I had plans to turn it into a bug…
Plans for this Term
We have a short six-week term ahead of us and are planning to keep ourselves busily ensconced in project work. Our experiment last term was so successful that the children had been begging to start school again last week, with T12 getting quite antsy that he didn't have something to get his teeth into. We…
Medieval Banquet
We did it. After almost twelve weeks of preparation and work, and feeling like we would simply never be ready, the day of the banquet arrived. It went well, really well. The children did their presentations and answered our guest's questions fairly intelligently. The food was remarkably good, considering we used authentic medieval recipes and…
T’s Home-Made Go-Cart
T12 has been busy making himself a go-cart, which he intends to race against his friend. T had been chuntering on as he so often does about the minutiae detail of his go-cart for weeks. He has questioned scientists and engineers alike, collected many scientific equations, all of which he understood but which left me…
When Project Work Doesn’t go According to Plan
A massive goal for our little home school is independence. I really want the children to desire to learn and to be able to do it independently. There is a whole different kind of joy which comes from work they are able to own for themselves. Last academic year, each of my older children chose…
Encouraging Independent Learners
One of my goals of home schooling is to end up with independent learners. I LOVE working and learning along side my children. It is one of my greatest pleasures. And it is one I am loath to give up. However, I do want to move the children one more step towards independence. I have been…